Part 1
"What I can’t understand, Your Majesty, is why you want to do this now. The annihilation of the Moon Kingdom is certainly a goal, but to attempt it now would not be a minor undertaking. We’re fresh out of the Magellanic Cloud Empire war, the troops are tired, and frankly, we’d be spending more energy than I’d recommend at this point. If we waited a while, a year or so, we’d get the business done much more efficiently."
"I don’t care about efficiency. I want that Kingdom destroyed as soon as possible."
"Majesty, I must advise you against this course of action. I strongly urge you to consider the ramifications of - "
"Jadeite, do you remember what happened to your predecessor?"
"Yes, Majesty."
"Would you like to enjoy the same fate?"
"No, Majesty."
"Then shut up about the ramifications and start figuring out how to bring down the Moon Kingdom. Or you can strongly urge all you want, in eternal sleep."
"Yes, Majesty."
"Leave me. Report tomorrow with something worthwhile for me to hear."
Beryl watched her chief tactician as he bowed, turned smartly, and marched out of the throne room. For all she threatened, she knew Jadeite would produce a good plan, a plan that would ultimately succeed. He was no fool. He had, after all, come up with the strategies that had conquered the mighty Magellanic Cloud Empire. He should have no problem with the peaceful, quiet Moon Kingdom.
The Moon Kingdom! Beryl smashed her fist against the arm of her throne and cursed the stupid place. A dark patch of energy shimmered in front of her as her most trusted adviser appeared.
"My queen, why so upset?"
Beryl’s hard face relaxed, then creased into a scowl. "I’m going to destroy the Moon Kingdom. I don’t care that Metallia’s still in the Cloud ruins. When she returns, she’ll just have a nice surprise waiting for her."
"She had always wanted to see the Moon decimated," agreed Nephrite.
"Oh, it’ll be decimated all right," Beryl snarled. "Those graceful, white pillars will be crushed to dust. Those delicate flowers will be broken and ruined. And as for that precious little princess they all adore . . ."
"Beryl, such hostility! Do I sense some animosity towards the Moon princess?"
"I hate that conniving tramp! She’s got the whole universe wrapped around her little finger. Pretending to be so pure and innocent. I bet I know why all the courtiers like her so much. Harlot."
Nephrite’s blue eyes widened in false alarm. "Beryl, she’s only a little girl, barely fifteen!"
"Old enough to snag her a bed-toy. Remember that man I showed you in my viewing crystal?"
"Endymion, your Grace? The prince of Earth?"
"Not for much longer!" Beryl snapped.
"Ah, the puzzle pieces come together. This Endymion and the Moon princess are an item, I suppose."
"I offered him everything, Nephrite! Endless wealth, incredible power, a place beside me-"
"Oh, just beside you, eh?"
"How dare he refuse me? How dare he? He must be insane!"
"Or in love," murmured Nephrite, but Beryl didn’t hear. She raged on.
"They think they can lord it over me. I’ll show them! Metallia didn’t choose me as her successor for nothing. I’ll rip their perfect little world apart and hand Queen Selenity’s head to Metallia on a platter!"
"My, won’t she be pleased," Nephrite smiled.
"Jadeite is already working on strategy. I want to advance soon, within the next three months."
"I shall consult the stars on your behalf, your Majesty." Nephrite shimmered away, leaving Beryl to fume at the universe.
Jadeite drummed his fingers on the table and blearily rubbed his eyes. He opened the dossier on the Moon Kingdom again, then flipped it shut with a groan. Tomorrow! How could he be expected to come up with a viable, workable plan by tomorrow?
-Oh, forget the fact that no one has ever successfully breached the Moon Kingdom’s defenses.- Jadeite thought. -Forget the fact that every spy the Dark Kingdom had ever sent in had been rooted out. And while you’re at it, forget the fact that ever since the end of the Cloud war, I’ve involved in other projects that require my full attention right now. Guess I’ll have to forget that now. Shit. Well, what was I going to do, tell Beryl ‘Oh, I’m sorry, but I’m busy finding out who’s been giving those disabling, potentially lethal, and massively addictive drugs to the top-ranking youma.’ I prefer my heart in my chest, thanks.-
The tactician yawned widely, and stood up from his desk. He began to pull his shirt off, but tugged it back down when he heard a knock on the door. He turned the knob, and was instantly shoved up against the wall, right arm twisted painfully against his back. He struggled, but whoever held him, held him fast.
"Surprise inspection, private," a low, menacing voice growled. "Is your gear in order?"
Jadeite grinned into the wall. "Yes SIR! Up yours, SIR!" The owner of the voice began to laugh, and released Jadeite, who was laughing as well, and who turned and punched the taller man in the arm.
"You were a bastard back then, Kunzite. I hated those inspections."
"Well, you’re qualified to give them yourself now, if you feel like exacting revenge on a bunch of helpless greenies."
"See, the difference between you and me is that I’m not a sadistic maniac. I don’t take advantage of other people’s weaknesses in order to promote myself."
"The hell you don’t, Chief Tactician!"
Jadeite laughed again, and pounded Kunzite on the back. "I can’t believe it’s only been a year. It feels like a decade since I’ve seen you."
"More like a millennium. The perks of being promoted to general - shipping out in the middle of the night to fly to a battleground weeks away, to save Metallia’s ass."
"And you did, you damn well did!" Jadeite shook his head in amazement. "We all heard the most incredible stories, about your battles and captures. I could barely believe it was Kunzite I was hearing about.."
"Thanks," Kunzite said wryly.
"You know what I mean. Oh god! You’re really home! Damn! How the hell are you anyway? When did you get in? Want a drink?"
"Fine, three hours ago, yes yes YES!"
A few minutes later, the two men were sitting on Jadeite’s bed, sipping dark whiskey. Kunzite reached into his breast pocket and pulled out a round, gold disc, and tossed it into Jadeite’s lap. The blond man picked it up and read aloud, "’Medal of Honor. Awarded to General Kunzite, for bravery in capturing Magella.’ I’m impressed, show-off. The capital of the Empire. Not too shabby."
"I was just carrying out your strategic suggestions."
"Did you ever carry out the - ahem - other strategies I suggested? Did you and Tiiri ever-"
"No." Kunzite’s face stilled. "Tiiri died in the first assault launched after my arrival."
Jadeite bit his lower lip and looked away. After a moment, he cleared his throat. "I’m sorry."
"Me too. Tiiri was . . . a good friend. I did get together with someone, though. We’re still together, actually."
"Really? replied Jadeite, interested. "That’s terrific! Who is it?"
"An old friend of yours. You can probably guess."
Jadeite thought, brow furrowed. Then his eyes lit up. "Hey, not Z-"
"Good guess."
"But Kunzite, our favorite blondie got home last month."
"I know," Kunzite groaned. "I’ve been going crazy."
"You came to see me first? You _just_ got home three hours ago, and you come to see me? A certain someone’s going to be really pissed."
"Eh, you were on the way. And you know what they say. Lovers come and lovers go, but friends last forever."
"I’m touched. I’m moved. I think I’m going to cry. WOULD YOU GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE AND GO GET SOME?"
"Nooooo problem, believe you me," laughed Kunzite, standing and heading for the door. Jadeite followed him.
"Come see me again soon. We’ll talk. But stop by after tomorrow."
"Why, what’s happening tomorrow?"
Jadeite’s face darkened. "I’ll let you know when I can."
"Okay," Kunzite smiled, confused. "See you later." The tall, silver-haired man strode off down the hall, heading for the officers’ quarters. Jadeite cast a despairing eye at the stack of papers on his desk, and flung himself onto his bed. He would deal with the Moon Kingdom destruction thing in a while. First, he had to reconcile himself to the idea that two of his oldest and closest friends were romantically involved.
Kunzite stopped outside a door in the officers’ hall. The door was plain and unadorned, except for the single letter "Z", painted in petal pink in the upper left corner. He raised his hand to knock, but paused when he heard faint snoring. Changing his mind, he quietly turned the door-knob and slipped inside the room.
It was almost completely dark, but the strip of light from the open door illuminated the room enough for Kunzite to see by. The customary furnishings were arranged in the customary way: the desk and chair, the two armchairs and a table, the dresser, the four-poster bed. The bed was obviously occupied, a small lump rolled up in the sheets testifying to that. Kunzite smiled at the soft noises coming from the bed, and gently closed the door. As his eyes adjusted to the darkness, Kunzite stripped off his uniform top and trousers, leaving him in only his black undershirt and shorts. He left the clothes neatly folded on a chair, and carefully, so as to not disturb the occupant, climbed into the bed. But careful as he was, he had forgotten how light a sleeper his lover was.
"Hmmm? Who’s that?" murmured a drowsy voice. Kunzite smiled tenderly, and lightly touched the pale, soft face.
"It’s me. I’m home."
"That’s nice, Kunzite . . Kunzite? Kunzite!!" The figure sat up, turned, and dove into Kunzite’s embrace. "You’re really home! Oh my god! I missed you so much! You’re back, you’re home, you’ve come back to me!"
Kunzite tightened his arms around the slim body, and buried his face in the long, flower-scented, blond hair. "I missed you, Zellaura."
"Let’s never be separated again," she whispered.
"Never," he agreed.
Jadeite smiled at the large, blue elephant in Beryl’s throne room, and then turned back to the talking lemon meringue pie. "So, you were saying, about crusts?"
"Wake up, Jadeite," the pie said.
Jadeite opened his eyes to a pitch-dark room. He sat up and slapped twice. A dim light switched on and Jadeite pulled himself out of bed.
"And it was that lovely dream about the pie, too," he grumbled.
"Why did it tell me to wake up"?
But he knew why. An idea was tickling at the back of his brain. He couldn’t quite pull it forward. He paced the length of his room impatiently, waiting for his slow head to figure out exactly what his mind had come up with. To help speed the process, he talked himself through it.
"Okay, whatever it is, it has to be important, or it wouldn’t have woken me up. What am I doing that’s important? Of course, idiot, the Moon Kingdom. All right, we’re getting there!" He gave himself a congratulatory pat on the shoulder.
"The Moon Kingdom. Has to be destroyed. Has no weak points. Has no weak points that we know of. How do we find weak points? Batter at their defenses. No. Stupid. Send in a spy. Tried that. Failed. All spies caught. Clumsy bastards. ARGGGH!"
Jadeite thumped his head with the heels of both hands. As if the action had knocked a stuck spring free, it came to him exactly how to bring down Queen Selenity’s peaceful kingdom.
Kunzite blinked, and smiled sleepily at the face hovering over him. It was a face he had memorized many times over. Pale and faintly pink, with high cheekbones and a delicately pointed chin, framed by glorious masses of golden waves. Two stunning green eyes, slanted and feline. And a wide, welcoming smile on pink lips. He reached up and caught the chin in hand, bringing the lovely face down to kiss those lips.
Zellaura giggled against his mouth and pulled slightly away.
"Oh, come on now," Kunzite smiled. "I haven’t seen you in over a month. And the last circumstances weren’t half as appealing as this warm bed."
"You mean you didn’t find the ruins of the Emperor’s palace romantic?" Zellaura asked, eyes wide.
"I was just desperate to see you before you left. I wish to god I knew why Metallia makes us leave the scene of the crime in order of rank, lowest first."
"Technically, it’s because those people are the greenest, and need more experience. So if a new war started as soon as we finished the old one, the troops could get their feet wet."
"Or be led to the slaughter. Seems to me it would be smarter to let higher ranking officers go first. We’d know how to handle the situation."
"But then you’d leave before me."
"Hmm, you’re right," agreed Kunzite. "We’ll just have to figure out a way for captains to leave with generals."
"You mean, for majors to leave with generals."
"No!" Kunzite cried delightedly.
"Yes. As soon as I got in, I received word of my promotion. For bravery in capturing Magella. I got a medal and everything."
Kunzite drew Zellaura closer to him, aligning the curves of her body with his. "Soon you’ll be a general too, and we’ll take on the universe together."
Zellaura curled against Kunzite’s chest, resting her head in the hollow of his shoulder. "I think I’d like that. I think I’d like that a lot." She turned her face up to his and kissed him tenderly. Then the kiss grew less tender as Kunzite slid his hands down Zellaura’s body. Suddenly-
"Oh hell!" grumbled Kunzite. When the insistent knocking pounded again, Zellaura made a face, tossed the covers back, and stomped across the room. She pulled the door open violently, surprising Jadeite, who had just raised his fist to knock again. The blond man opened his mouth to speak, only to find that the door had swung shut in his face.
"Hey, come on!"
Zellaura opened the door once more and stood aside to let Jadeite in, bowing exaggeratedly as he passed.
"Please sir, do come in. Kunzite and I were just wishing you would knock on the door and liven up our oh, so boring evening. I mean, we were debating over Go or Parcheesi, but now that you’re here-"
"Can it, Zell. You know, even when we were kids, you never quite got the finesse of sarcasm. Hi, Kunzite."
"Gee, Jadeite," Kunzite remarked dryly from the bed. "It’s been so long. What, like two hours?" Zellaura turned to her lover, a look of incredulity on her face.
"You went to see him before you came to see me?"
"Well, uh . . "
"I don’t believe it!" Zellaura snatched up a pillow and thudded it into Kunzite’s chest.
"Told you so!" sang Jadeite merrily.
"His room was on the way to yours," explained Kunzite lamely to a frowning Zellaura. "And so you bothered us in the middle of the night to gloat, Jadeite?"
Jadeite’s smile faltered and fell. "I . . . actually, I need to talk to Zell. Alone."
"Can’t it wait?" asked Zellaura.
"Yeah, come back in the morning, all right?"
"No!" Both Kunzite and Zellaura were startled by the urgency in their friend’s voice. They exchanged a look, and Kunzite climbed out of bed. He pulled the desk chair around and formed a rough triangle with the two armchairs. Jadeite dropped into the wicker and wood seat, casting nervous glances in Zellaura’s direction. "What’s wrong?" inquired the woman, gently.
Jadeite rested his elbows on his thighs and planted his chin in his hands. "This is all entirely confidential, you understand."
The other two nodded.
The tactician proceeded to tell them about Beryl’s plans to invade and destroy the Moon Kingdom, and how she wanted it done soon. Although they weren’t looking at each other, the two officers’ expressions were identical; grimly set jaws and narrowed eyes. The campaign in the Magellanic Cloud Empire, although successful, had been enormously taxing on the army. And to attempt another war, so soon, and victory to be accomplished in such a short time! They had no doubt the Dark Kingdom would win; winning was inevitable. But whose lives would be lost, what injuries sustained, to ensure that victory?
"This is terrible, Jadeite. I really appreciate you telling us all this," said Kunzite.
"Me too. It’s good to start preparing mentally. Ugh," shuddered Zellaura. "Another damn war."
"But why did you have to tell us now?" asked Kunzite.
"Beryl wants ideas, plans, by tomorrow. I’ve been having the worst time getting started. I can’t plan for the attack, because I don’t know the Moon Kingdom’s weaknesses. All our spies have failed over there. I read and reread all the reports, and pulled all the files. Nothing. Then it came to me. While I slept, actually. It was kind of dumb not to have seen it sooner. It’s pretty obvious."
Zellaura paled, and began to tremble. Kunzite watched her, worried.
"Zell? Are you all right?"
"I’m fine." The words were pronounced very carefully and distinctly.
"What’s wrong?"
"Nothing. I just think I know what Jadeite has in mind."
"What’s that?"
Jadeite looked at Zellaura, who briefly nodded an affirmative to his unspoken question. He drew in a deep breath.
"Kunzite, what you’re about to hear is the utmost of security secrets. Only a very, very select few know about this. The head tactician, me, knows, Beryl knows, Metallia knows . . . few others, I’d imagine. Zell only knows because . . . well . . . "
"Knows what, Jadeite?"
Jadeite heaved a sigh. "My head could be on a stick for this. Oh well. Have you ever heard of the A.E.S.?"
"The what? No. No, I haven’t."
"It stands for Assassin/Espionage Squadron," Jadeite explained.
"It’s an extremely elite team of . . . well, assassins and spies. People who fit a certain, very specific psychological and physical profile are elected to join after graduation from their rudimentary training schools. Once you’re in, you’re in for life. And once you’re in, you meet no one, talk to no one, except your trainers and the people you work with on your missions. On your missions, you’re incognito. You lead a life of virtual solitude. The A.E.S. is the best weapon - and best-kept secret - of the Dark Army."
"Was," Zellaura broke in, flatly. "Was those things."
"Yeah," answered Jadeite in response to Kunzite’s questioning look. "Remember hearing about the capture of the Magellanic general Lileask?"
"We were told that the Blue Hell regiment got that son of a bitch."
"Really? They were told that the Firewolf regiment got him. And they were told that Halidite’s Howls got him. No, it was the A.E.S."
"You know, I thought there was no way the Blue Hells could have captured the Cloud’s best general. None of those oafs are sneaky enough."
"This generation of the A.E.S. is - was - the living definition of sneaky. Unfortunately, during that raid, all the members of the A.E.S., save one, were killed. Lileask’s guards and traps were almost better than they were. But one member survived and brought Lileask back to Metallia. He was decorated a hero, and no one could know. I’d say only four or five people even know he exists. And he is the perfect man to penetrate the Moon Kingdom, spy around, and send us the exact information we need to bring the Moon Kingdom down in a month. His espionage skills are infallible."
"He sounds incredible," exclaimed Kunzite. "He sounds perfect! Who is he?"
Zellaura raised her head and looked at Kunzite. "My brother," she said. "My twin brother."